Design

Overall Approach

Very similar to System 7.

• 6 ability scores, skills, feats, gear. That's it for rules.
• Skills
  • Everyone gets the same amount. Maybe humans get +1, or somesuch. Doesn't favor Int.
  • All skills work like d20 skills, mechanically speaking. (Albeit with max ranks = 1/level, not 1/level+3)
  • However, skills also provide access to Talents (see below).
  • Some skills provide access to Powers (see below).
  • Some skills allow Crafting (see below).
• Talents
  • Everyone gets 1 talent per level, plus X at level 1 (from Background).
  • Each skill is also a Talent Tree, in the vein of SW:SE.
  • Talents can require other talents, of course, but some can also require "rank 2", "rank 3", etc. This is a gating feature. Example:
    • The talent "Death Attack" might require Stealth rank 3. That means you can't take the talent until you have 10 ranks in Stealth.
    • (Note: might not bother with rank, and just say "requires 10 ranks in Stealth or somesuch, but still handle rank virtually)
  • Other than that, they work like feats, in that you permanently acquire the listed bonus. Example:
    • The feat "Sneak Attack" reads: "when you have combat advantage, your attacks inflict +1d6 damage". And so they do. Simple as that. It's not a skill, where there are rolls; like a feat, it's just a simple description.
• Crafting
  • Crafting is about making gear. It's also about unmaking gear, customizing it, modifying it, improving it, sabotaging other people's gear, etc.
    • For instance, not only can an Armormech specialist make armor, he can make himself a suit of custom power armor, complete with a rocket pack, shoulder-mounted missiles, a wrist flamethrower, oil slick, etc.
  • Making gear is always nice in any RPG. However, in Star Wars, it's doubly nice; virtually all the gear anyone would really want is either licensed, restricted, or illegal for almost everyone in the galaxy, during pretty much every time period. Being able to make your own gear out of simpler (read: less illegal) components is a HUGE advantage in this world, relative to a typical fantasy world.
  • While Crafting doesn't allow powers per se, it allows the creation of gear that does the same thing.
    • For example, a Cybertech can't just magically reprogram a droid (outside of using his skill checks to do just that, using normal skill rules, including the many minutes it would take), but he can surely make a special restraining bolt that might turn a droid to his side simply by attaching it to his bolt slot.
    • Or a simpler example: a Demolitionist can't magically create explosions, but he can sure create a grenade, then throw it.
    • Powers are powers: they use the same system whether they're being manifested by the Force or through an item. The system will provide balance between gear- and Force-based characters by having them ultimately use the same rules.
• Powers
  • Powers are powers. Like "Force Grip" and the "Jedi Mind Trick". They work much like in System 7, or 3.2 beta 1.
  • Powers are all based on a skill. That skill determines the DC for Defense checks, or any other opposed check against the power. It might also determine how effective the power was. This is pretty much how SW:SE worked, just more standardized, and with more than one skill.
  • The skills that grant access to Powers also grant Talents, as normal. These Talents are going to be quite useful for any practitioner of the Force.

Skills

More notes on skills.

Flavor

• A skill is allowed to have a "Flavor".
  • A flavor puts a slight spin on the skill. Usually, it changes the ability score used. It might also add new uses, or work better/differently for specific uses.
  • For example:
    • The Lightsaber skill can be used with either Strength or Dexterity.
    • The Dex approach helps uses such as Deflection.
    • The Str approach helps uses such as chopping people the hell in half.
  • Another one:
    • The Telepathy skill can be used with Int, Wis, or Cha.
    • The Int approach is better at complex uses, like reading deep thoughts and planting memories (a la Inception).
    • The Wis approach is better at sensing emotions, presence, and intention.
    • The Cha approach is better at straight-up charm and compulsion.
  • Usually, you pick one flavor, and that's it for you. However, in some cases, the ability score depends on something that can change at any time, but the flavor is still a one-time choice. For example:
    • Parry uses Str or Dex, whichever your weapon uses.
    • Str is better at knockdown, counter-disarm, and parrying larger creatures/weapons.
    • Dex is better at parrying from multiple angles, or parrying ranged attacks.
    • You still pick Str or Dex style at level 1; however, if you pick Str style, and you're using a Dex-based weapon, you lose access to your Str-style benefits.

Classes

So what about classes? They don't exist. They didn't do much anyway. All they did was:

• Slightly influence BAB, Defenses, and HP. (Basic skills will handle this now, where needed; Background also matters)
• Provide a list of valid feats and talents

In that second capacity, they still exist; effectively, they are a convenient categorization scheme. It's kind of like Oblivion: classes don't literally exist as they're own thing, but rather they are a list of suggested options to achieve a particular build, using the same custom-build system anyone else uses. This is useful not only to players (especially first-time players), but DMs, who can use it to make enemies quickly without getting bogged down in minutiae.

Background

Prior to 1st level, you choose X backgrounds. They're simply packages of benefits, corresponding to some real-world experience you had. For instance:

• Jedi Padawan: You were a Jedi Padawan. Gain +2 to Lightsabers and Concentration. Gain a lightsaber.
• Boot Camp: You went through boot camp. Gain +5 Hit Points, +1 Constitution, and +2 to Marksmanship.

Other notes:

• Each Background will provide roughly the same mechanical benefit.
• Some Backgrounds require others.
• Backgrounds are organized into categories (such as Jedi Academy, Grand Army of the Republic, etc) for your convenience.
• Backgrounds are as specific as possible: Jedi Padawan is better than Force-User Training, and Clone Trooper is better than Soldier.
• Effort is made to provide backgrounds for multiple phases of life. For example: Taken at Birth for a young Jedi-to-be, Youngling for a child, and Jedi Padawan for a young adult.
• Backgrounds can provide a wide range of things, including bonuses to skills and core attributes, bonus feats and talents, and equipment. They might even provide more esoteric things, such as Alderaanian Noble, providing some subjective, Alderaan-specific benefits (in addition to generally-useful mechanical ones).

Damage Model

This is not System 6. The core rules are not changing. A skill check is still 1d20 + ranks + ability modifier. A weapon still does base dice + ability modifier + modifier from weapon (if any). Few attributes, if any, are considered as percentages.

That being said, it is meant to be a little more interesting than just pressing "1" over and over again. How so? Not through class-based combos, with "combo points", but mainly through feats, such as Power Attack, Called Shot, Power Charge, etc.

Which leads to...

Combat Styles

As a general rule, Talents tweak how a particular skill works, while Feats establish a combat style. Let's explore this by example.

Suppose you want to be a Jedi Guardian. You know, classic Jedi, defense before offense, diplomacy before hostile negotiations, etc. The basic setup might be:

• High Str/Con/Wis, less so on the others
• Lots of Hit Points, high Parry and Block, good Fort/Will
• Less focus on damage output; you want to be able to shield allies, control (i.e. taunt) enemies, soak a lot of hits, and perhaps use a "revenge" style on attackers. You'll find it quite useful to find ways around Parry and Dodge, since taunting enemies means you'll never be able to attack their flanks.

So how do you implement this? Let's go step-by-step:

• Ability scores: easy enough, just choose the ones you want.
  • For all applicable skills, be sure to flip to a flavor that favors your "high" ability scores.
• Lots of Hit Points: invest in Endurance. It increases your Hit Points, and you'll like the talents.
• Parry, Block, Fort, and Will? These are skills. Take them.
• Power selection:
  • As a Force user, you can select powers. Yay!
  • There are certainly powers to shield allies and taunt your enemies.
  • There are even powers to shield yourself (aka "soak a lot of hits").
  • So yeah...take those
• Feats:
  • There is a Defender combat style. This is just a category of feats. You probably qualify for most of them.
  • Examples:
    • Revenge: Each time you are attacked, you gain +1 to damage against that attacker for 1 round (stacks and refreshes).
    • Load: The squares of your left and right flank count as occupied, for the purpose of blocking enemy movement, and for the purpose of providing cover to allies behind you.
    • Feint: Recharge 33%, free, melee attack; you make a fake melee attack, rolling Lightsabers/Hand-to-Hand/etc as normal. If you beat the subject's Perception score, he thinks it is a real attack, and uses Parry/Dodge/etc to block it. This creates an opening; your next std-action attack within 1 round ignores Dodge/Parry.
• Talents:
  • The Lightsabers skill provides, for example:
    • Deflect: You may use Parry Defense against blaster bolts.
    • Saber Channel: You may use Parry Defense against targeted, damaging Force effects, such as pyrokinesis and Force Lightning.
    • Saber Ward: You may use your Parry Defense against anything you could normally parry, but to block attacks targeting any ally within your reach.
  • While Concentration might provide:
    • Crucitorn: When you suffer damage, make a Concentration check, DC = 10 + damage dealt. On success, you convert half the damage into subdual. Max once/rd.
    • Battle Meditation: At-will, swift, sustain swift; you regenerate 1d6+Concentration ranks in subdual damage, and 1 Force Point.
    • Hyper-Deflection: When you use the Total Defense action, you gain your Concentration ranks and Wisdom bonus to your Parry Defense, and the stacking penalty for repeated parry attempts is removed. Requires Deflect.

In the above, Feats provide a general tanking style which anyone (not just a Jedi Guardian) could take, while Talents provide the skill-specific tweaks to make it very much a Jedi Guardian tanking style.